Mad Lust Envy's Headphone Gaming Guide: (Updated: 5/23/2013. MrSpeakers Mad Dog v.3.2 Reviewed) - Page 689

Audio-Technica AD700

 

Read the first post.

What do you mean by when you say they have equal surround potential? Are saying they sound similar? 

If you plan on using in for PC, I would steer away from the PLYR1 if the USB DAC/Soundcard is anything like the PLYR2's. It was terrible, I had to hook it into my soundcard/mixamp setup before the PLYR2 started sounding good. PC gamers got the short end of the stick for the PLYR2s. They may surprise PC players and have a better performance for the much pricier PLYR1s. Who knows

No... I'm not saying they sound similar, at least tonally. I mean they both have the potential to let you hear "home theater" surround, simulated through stereo headphones. Your ears may experience the surround effect better with one or the other, they're two slightly different techniques to create the same effect. The Xonar U3 uses Dolby Headphone (2), and the Recon3D uses THX TruStudio Pro.

Tonally, bass or treble response sound a bit different. The Recon3D probably also has a cleaner analogue signal. The other sonic difference is the Recon3D has the extra potential that if you're playing a PC game that supports 3D surround audio like Bioshock, Battlefield 2, and Unreal3 engine games like Borderlands 2, with horizontal and vertical positional cues, you can configure the Recon3D (also X-Fi cards with CMSS-3D) to bring the third dimension to audio. Many games sadly do not account for vertical surround because home theaters just have a circle of speakers (not a sphere), for example I got frustrated a few times playing CoD4 last night when I tried to get the jump on someone around the corner, but they were upstairs.

So, if you're playing a game with only 2D surround, then the U3 and Recon3D both only have the "potential" to create 2D surround (neither can "fake" added vertical surround without the game providing info). 2D surround is still better than stereo IMO, and most of the time it works well enough. Sometimes games, like Halo since Halo 3, simulate height in the game software, along with environmental, occlusion, and distance effects. It's not perfect but it makes a difference.
Edited by Evshrug - 1/2/13 at 3:03pm

I was reading about the DT880 earlier. This seems to be the most neutral headphone of the bunch. It's found on both Beyerdynamic's monitoring page and their studio page. Why would you recommend the DT990 over this?

Bass. I would personally choose the DT880 over the DT990 from what I've read, but I'd choose the Q701's soundstage over either, and I did

 

Got it. Thank you. Should I go with the Premium or the Pro model of these then? I heard about the rear positioning not being so great coupled with Dolby HP, but how does it fare with Silent Cinema? Is the rear just bad across all HRTFs, or does it just not have as great synergy with Dolby HP?

Edited by SoAmusing777 - 1/2/13 at 3:42pm

I've only read about the DT880, so I don't know how it fares with other surround HRTFs (or ERTFs). Have you heard Silent Cinema yet? Mad's the only person I've read who has compared the DH effect with different headphones. That's not a dig on him, not at all, but we don't really have a comprehensive set of info. No idea what this headphone sounds like with that surround processing in this game with that amp... There simply are a ton of variables. It's not yet controlled science.

 

Me either, lol. Dolby HP is indeed an ERTF, yeah? Just thought I'd ask since you reminded me. Yes, I have. I own a RX-A710 receiver. Yeah, I was just curious. After EVEN FURTHER investigation. I may just keep the Q701's. They are pretty beast. Mmm, I'm just trying to find the right pad to put on the headband.

Hey Mad Lust Envy,

 

Are you going to do a separate review of the A40's 2013 ed.?
 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CAINRK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 I ended up getting this, for anyone that is interested in modding the headband to make it more comfortable. According to my reading around of these, this seems to be the best one. I just hope the size is okay. Maybe I can cut it, and it will still be fine.

Edited by SoAmusing777 - 1/2/13 at 6:00pm

 

I can't say I've seen anyone say such things about the Q701 here on Head-Fi, but I did run into someone who didn't like the soundstage and imaging of the Stax Lambda series and the AD700 of all things. Said he didn't like the really diffused imaging, compared to typical Sennheisers.

 

 

For me, the Stax Lambda series has been the best I've tried, if money is no object. There's a reason Smyth Research bundles a basic Lambda setup (SR-207 + SRM-252S amp, IIRC) with their Realiser systems.

 

But the AD700 will still get you most of the way there for much less money spent.

 

Lol, good to know. How does that seat belt cover look for my intended use?

Fuzzy... Might want to look at something more breathable.